Design of an Isolated and Low-Cost Raspberry Pi-Based IoT Network Infrastructure Against ARP Spoofing and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Creative Commons License

Kaya E., Polat H., Oyucu S., Huseynli M.

UNEC Journal of Computer Science and Digital Technologies (JCSDT), cilt.2, sa.1, ss.26-33, 2026 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

This study focuses on the design and implementation of a low-cost, isolated network infrastructure to protect IoT devices in home and small-scale business environments from ARP spoofing and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. The system is located on a Raspberry Pi and establishes an IoT network in a logically isolated manner, preventing devices on the primary home or enterprise network from directly accessing the IoT devices. This network separation enhances security by reducing the attack surface and limiting horizontal attacks. Network traffic in the isolated environment is monitored with minimal latency. ARP packets are captured, parsed, and analyzed using a specially developed algorithm. Using the data analyzed, the system generates a risk score to assess the probability of ARP spoofing or MitM attacks. Alerts are triggered when pre-defined threshold conditions are met. In this study, the alerts are used for monitoring and evaluation purposes as a first version; however, the architecture is designed to enable integration with firewalls or automated email or SMS mechanisms. The system has been tested in various attack scenarios. Tests have shown that during attack conditions, risk scores exceed threshold values and alerts are triggered. Furthermore, a web interface has been improved, providing ease of use for the end-user. Overall, the proposed solution demonstrates that it provides an affordable, practical, and effective security mechanism compared to its counterparts.